Leeds United v Crystal Palace: Loans pay dividends for Leeds as players find form

The footballing equivalent of being sent to Coventry, the clear inference to draw was that the player in question was no longer part of the manager’s plans. A stint in the shop window, therefore, might just tempt a prospective buyer to come in and snap up any unwanted stock – meaning problem solved for the club.

Some managers turned the practice into an art form, so much so that once a player went out on loan the only chance of a reprieve was a change of the man at the helm.

At Leeds United, however, the opposite has become true with a spell on loan at another club having provided several then fringe players with a route back into the first team at Elland Road.

It started early in 2007 with Jermaine Beckford, who had joined United a couple of years earlier from non-League Wealdstone but singularly failed to make his mark and a parting of the ways seemed best for all parties.

So, when Beckford dropped down a division to join Scunthorpe United on loan, many thought it marked the end of the striker’s stay at Leeds.

Instead, a return of eight goals from 17 starts as the Iron clinched the League One title was enough to earn Beckford another chance at Elland Road – one he took with glee as 71 goals were plundered from 126 league appearances over the next three years.

Since Beckford spectacularly revived a career that looked to be going nowhere, Davide Somma, Ramon Nunez, Adam Clayton and Tom Lees have all trodden a similar path to force their way into the Leeds first team.

Lees, who will be 21 in November, is comfortably the youngest of that quintet – Beckford being 22 at the time he moved to Glanford Park, a year older than Clayton was when loaned out to, first, Peterborough United and then MK Dons last term. Nunez and Somma, meanwhile, were both 24 when sent out on loan to Scunthorpe and Lincoln City respectively.

But the Academy graduate is in no doubt as to the huge boost his career received from spending last season at Bury and 2009-10 with Accrington Stanley.

“Going out on loan was brilliant for me,” says the Warwick-born defender who has started United’s last four Championship fixtures and already bagged his first goal for the club. “I realised the good it was doing me not long after I joined Accrington (in August 2009).

“Maybe at first I was a bit frustrated at the thought of going on loan and not being able to stay at Leeds but that was because I couldn’t see the benefits.

“I did, though, very quickly change my mind as I realised how great it was to be playing regularly.”

Such a refreshing attitude was no doubt why Lees prospered during not only his year at Accrington but also last season with Bury, who he helped to automatic promotion by putting in a string of impressive displays to be named Players’ Player of the Year at Gigg Lane.

Unfortunately, not all Unitedplayers have been quite as open-minded with Mike Grella incurring Grayson’s wrath last term when he turned down a possible loan move to Bradford City.

The prospect of dropping down into League Two was one the American refused to contemplate last autumn, which meant his days at Elland Road were numbered from that moment on and he last month signed permanently for Brentford.

Unlike Grella, the quintet of Beckford, Somma, Clayton, Nunez and Lees were all much more open-minded about moving out on loan and their respective careers have been boosted as a result.

For Lees, this has led to a run in the first team and he is readily aware of the debt he owes both Accrington and Bury.

He said: “I am really grateful for the experience I got at both clubs.

“It has been a big help.

“Sending players out on loan has worked really well for Leeds. If you look through the divisions and particularly the Premier League, there are a lot of players not getting any football.

“They certainly don’t play week-in, week-out. That means it can be hard to get into any kind of form or rhythm. As a result, they don’t progress.

“Going out on loan changes that, as I found out at both Accrington and Bury. I was able to get into a run and I feel I benefited a lot.

“Instead of being ‘stop-start’ and left feeling frustrated at being left behind, I was able to have a good run in the team. My game improved as a result.

“I would definitely recommend anyone who has the chance to go out on loan for regular football to do so.”

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